Familt Relations Continuation
by P.A.R
Summary: Harry gets his first taste of life with his Uncle. And it isn't at all what he hoped for. Getting separated from Orion, an old friend comes to the rescue.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LINK TO THIS STORY'S PREVIOUS CHAPTERS WILL NOT ALLOW ANY FURTHER UPLOADS. THEREFORE I AM FORCED TO CONTINUE WITH CHAPTER THREE AS A NEW STORY. THIS IS STILL ALL PART OF FAMILY RELATIONS.

A/N: Could my chapter titles get any more boring?

Well, Happy Birthday to PAR, folks. She's another year older.

And due to her being another year older, you are going to have to accept that sometimes I don't remember my own stories very well. So, allow me to make (yet) another adjustment to my time line.

It has often been ask if at this point in time do Orion and Katlin have children. The answer to that, as of today, is 'Yes. They have five children.'

Will those children show up in this story? No. You can safely consider them in the loving care of their overly indulgent grandparents. (The Black's, not Voldemort, who is, technically, not a grandfather as that Katlin is, technically, not his daughter.)

Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story Family Relations as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.

: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.

Chapter Three: Meetings-Part Three

Harry sat on an uncomfortable wooden bench, absently swinging his feet back and forth over the dull, over-waxed green plastic tiles of the adoption agency's lobby floor. He doubted that in his entire life he had ever been so bored while being equally so anxious. In the time he had been waiting he felt he had the corridor memorized to the point he would never forget it. He had started with the floor, then moved to the walls, which were showing their age worse than the floor tiles. Stains and small areas where plaster had come off over the years adorned the flat surface that he just couldn't quite discern the true color of, but finally decided on it being a sort of off-white covering.

The ceiling was worse than the walls, with cracks running in every direction through the plaster. To further occupy his time he had tried to make recognizable patterns out of the lines, but hadn't gotten any further than one connecting series that, with a great deal of imagination, could have been the head of a hippogriff.

But as the minutes ticked by, he decided what grabbed his attention the most, and held mercilessly onto it, was the smell. The corridor had the same, thick, unpleasant, antiseptic smell of a hospital. Something he had a hard time reconciling to himself. how could a place smell so clean and look so dirty?

He shrugged off the question for the hundredth time and took to studying the ceiling again, hoping and praying they would soon be going home.

Sirius had told him in all hopefulness this would be their last trip to the agency. The adoption should be finalized that morning and that would be that.

Harry certainly hoped so. Things had been anything but normal since Sirius had mentioned the adoption. And things happened so fast after that, Harry hardly had time to even think about what was going on.

The oddest occurrence of all in Harry's mind was the day Arabella had come to him and given him a paper to sign. Harry looked it over carefully as Arabella explained it to him.

"It's a petition to change your name, Harry." She explained with what he could only describe as the most nervous smile he had ever seen his godmother use. "It's just for your protection." Harry could clearly hear the hesitancy in her words. Like she was picking each one with extreme care. "From now on you'll be Harry James Potter Black. All right?"

Harry had stared at the paper, then turned back to his godmother.

"Why isn't Sirius doing this?" he asked.

"Well," Arabella had paused briefly, "this is sort of a surprise, Harry. For after the wedding. It's something I'm doing for him. But you're going to remember it's a surprise. And we don't want to ruin it, do we? So you're not to say anything to Sirius about it, all right?""

Harry glanced up at his godmother, then turned his attention back to the paper. He glanced over it again, this time with something else catching his attention. "This says that if anything happens to you or Sirius, my custody goes to Orion."

"It's a protection clause, Dear." Arabella stated quickly. "It's just if anything were to happen and Sirius or I couldn't take care of you, you would go to Sirius' brother."

"Why Orion?" Harry asked. He had already heard stories about the elder Black brother and he didn't exactly relish the idea of him as a guardian. "Why not Remus? Or Dumbledore."

Arabella looked like she was exactly ten seconds away from some sort of breakdown. "Because Remus can't be given custody, Dear. It's the law governing werewolves. And Dumbledore is much to busy running the school to take on a teenager. Now please, Harry, for me, just sign the document. It'll be our little surprise, all right? We'll give it to Sirius after the wedding. He'll be so pleased you signed it. So pleased you wanted to do this for him. To make him happy."

Harry remembered trying to ask something else about the document, but that was all he could recall of the event. He was trying to ask something else, when things went a little fuzzy. He remembered suddenly feeling that signing the paper was simply the right thing to do. It was, in fact, suddenly the most important thing in his life. Signing that document.

Arabella had handed him a quill and directed his hand over the piece of paper where he was to sign.

"Just sign it, Dear." He remembered hearing her say to him. "It's the right thing to do."

When Harry looked up again, he noticed the most startling transformation in his godmother. Never had he seen the woman look more like the Auror she was. Staring down at him with a expression that was anything but her usual, gentle air, Arabella carefully slid the paper out from under his hand and carefully rolled it up and tucked it safely into her robes.

He remembered her telling him something about her wanting him to go take a nap as she slipped the quill out of his hand. She reminded him once more about the paper being a surprise and that he wasn't to tell Sirius about it. Then she herded him towards the stairs, reminding him that they had a busy day planned the following morning and he should get some rest. And finding himself suddenly very tired, he had gone straight up to bed and fallen almost immediately asleep.

After that the court paper was never mentioned again. And after a short period of time, he had nearly forgotten it in the mad rush everything around him turned into.

Especially today.

Arabella had fussed over him all morning, making sure that he looked just right. Even as they drove to the agency in London she had continued to try and get his hair to look a little more orderly. She had even considered a small spell to do the job. But Sirius had finally called a halt to process at that point, reminding Arabella they had agreed on a strict 'no magic' rule whenever they were dealing with the adoption agency. The agency was run by muggles. If anything 'unusual' were to happen due to a spell suddenly going wrong, it could jeopardize the adoption.

And there seemed to be no guarantees these days about Arabella and her spells. While Sirius had taken control of the adoption process (part of which involved a 'no waiting' policy, despite his earlier opinion that the agency would look more favorably on a married couple than a single father), the planning of the wedding had been left to Arabella. And since the first day she started trying to get things organized, her spells seemed a bit...less focused. Everything from burnt dinners to attacks from feather dusters seemed to suddenly be the norm around the house.

And then there were the trips. The last few weeks seemed an endless series of trips to Harry. Off to Diagon Alley. Or a day trip to London to look for a suit for him. Or a dress for Arabella. Or for something else having to do with the wedding. It always seemed they were off somewhere. Sometimes for the day. Sometimes overnight or for the weekend. When Harry went off with his godmother, he was never sure when he would see Sirius again. In his opinion, it seemed almost as though Arabella was doing her utmost best to keep him and Sirius separated as much as possible, but always with her. Harry had ask once if he could go see Ron for the weekend, sure Arabella would jump at the chance. But she had told him 'no', stating only it wasn't a good idea in her opinion and instead hustled him off to London for the weekend.

But that morning things almost seemed normal with everyone pleasantly over-excited. Especially Harry and Arabella. Harry had spent most of the car ride into London thinking about what he was going to call his godparents now. 'Sirius and Arabella' seemed suddenly out of place. But 'Mom and Dad' didn't seem quite right either. Or maybe it would just take some getting use to. When Arabella had noticed how quiet he had gotten and asked what was on his mind, Harry had told her.

He should have lied.

The dilemma had brought a flurry of suggestions from his godparents. Everything from referring to them simply as still his 'godparents' to, as Sirius had suggested, 'the two people who were going to make his life miserable until he turned eighteen because that was now their job'.

When Harry had asked the question in reverse, Arabella had proudly stated she was going to refer to Harry for what he was; her adopted son. Sirius, on the other hand, had remained uncharacteristically quiet on the matter as he directed the car into the adoption agency parking lot.

And so Harry had sat on the bench for the past hour, taking in the corridor scenery and thinking over various answers to the question. He only looked up when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Harry didn't think he had ever seen a stranger procession than the one headed towards him down the hallway.

In the lead was the woman Harry recognized from his earlier visits to the agency as the caseworker who was in charge of the adoption. Harry had had one meeting with her in which she had asked a horribly long list of questions; most of which Harry didn't think were any of her business, but that he had answered anyway so as not to jeopardize the adoption.

Behind the caseworker was a tall man who looked amazingly like Sirius, except that he was dressed very differently. Harry's first thought upon seeing him was that he knew the man from somewhere. A thought he quickly past off to the fact that the man simply bore a striking resemblance to his godfather.

But it was the people bringing up the rear of the procession that struck Harry as the oddest of the four.

Harry had expected his godparents to be happy and excited. But the two's expressions couldn't have been further from 'happy' or 'excited'.

Sirius' gaze seemed fixed on nothing imparticular as he walked behind the man in front of him. Every step seemed to be forced, as did every other movement Sirius made. From his set jaw to the way his cane hit the floor every time he moved it, Sirius seemed as though he had enough anger inside of him that the slightest release would shake the building to its foundation.

Next to him Arabella looked as pale as Harry could ever remember seeing her. She walked just slightly behind Sirius, not touching him as she kept her hands clasp in front of her. She also didn't seem to be staring at anything imparticular until she came closer to where he was still sitting, watching the approaching group. Only then did her gaze shift to him and her expression became even more forlorn.

Not knowing what to think, Harry stayed exactly where he was, not making a move or saying a word. Whatever was going on, he knew it wasn't anything good as the tension from the four pressed in on him as they approached.

The caseworker stepped into a side office before reaching him. The black-haired man behind her continued to approach him with long, determined steps.

Harry's eyes never left the man's face as he walked up and stopped finally before him.

"Harry," the stranger said with a forced friendliness that tried to dispel the tension around them with little success, "my name is Orion Black. I'm Sirius' brother."

Harry only nodded slightly in response, his gaze shifting briefly to his godparents. Sirius' expression hadn't changed in the least, but remained fixed on Orion. But Arabella's attention had stayed on him. Her expression wasn't so much anguish, he noted, as nervousness. A state she was trying so hard to hide while she seemed to equally be trying to will him to remain calm.

Harry turned his eyes back to the man standing before him. Suddenly he remembered why the man looked so familiar. Harry had seen pictures of him when they had been living at Sirius' family house during the summer. Harry had, in fact, mistaken several pictures of Orion for Sirius.

Orion held his hand out for Harry. "Harry, I need for you to come with me, all right?"

Harry stayed where he was, ignoring the outstretched hand as he turned his eyes again to this godparents, pleading for them to tell him what was going on. What they wanted him to do.

Harry was so caught up in his confusion over the situation, he failed to even think to protest as Orion reached down and took his hand, directing him to his feet.

He was still staring mutely at his godparents as Orion led him off down the hallway toward the front doors.

****

Q&A

Family Relations

Silverfox:

Ah, condolences on the death of the parrot. I hope she didn't suffer. ... There's one thing that strikes me as strange here: You said that Arabella wants to prevent Sirius from adopting Harry (or at least that's how it arrived in my brain), but her reactions here don't fit the picture. Is this simply what Sirius assumes is the reason for her nervous behaviour, or is she slightly shizophrenic? ... Cuddling on the couch with Hershal? Shudder! No thanks, if I had to choose between those two, I'd pick Bo, though I 'd prefer not to cuddle with either of them. ... I just realised I unintentionally stole a character name from you and should better apologise. I'm currently planning a fic which, if I ever post it (big if I'm actually still wondering how the hell an mpreg plot-hedgehog ever ended up inside my mind and whether such a thing won't permanently ruin my reputation), will include a demon named Talon. I swear he has nothing to do with Talon Black and I only came to call him that, because Claw didn't quite feel right. I wasn't thinking of your Talon at all at the time and have by now gotten too used to the name to want to change it. Do you mind terribly much?

Hm ... don't really notice any differences from the first posting of this chapter. I still don't like Orion in this one, though I'll trust in your promise that it will be look different later on. Seems to me like Sirius ought to have the legal right to demand his money back, if the transfer was made on the grounds of his being in Azkaban.

Thank you, Dear. Our beloved parrot suffered very little.

Dang! You ask tough questions. Is Arabella trying t prevent the adoption? Well, yes and no. Unfortunately, that's the best answer I can give you for now. As that Arabella's actins are a large part of this story. A very large part. Poor Arabella is going to have to face some hard choices in the coming weeks. As well as one that she would give anything to not have to make.

Oh, come on, Hershal is cute! (More than cute, actually. The man is drop dead gorgeous.) You can't hold being half Dementor against the man.

Oh Dear, don't worry about having stolen anything from me. The name 'Talon' for Sirius' father I believe was actually stolen by me from another story to begin with. I unfortunately can not recall the story where I saw it originally, but I did give credit in one set of Author's Notes to the original author or authoress of the idea, whoever they may have been.

The differences are, indeed, often subtle, to say the least. Mostly they involve simply dispensing a little more information than was originally given. For instance, in this chapter you are getting a little bit more of a look into Arabella's reactions to things. Also, if you look at the original postings and then at these, you'll note the changes involve the things characters say. The reason for these changes is because words and phrasing is so very important in this story. Not one word, one phrase, one statement is put in this story that I did not carefully consider. If I changed a phrase, you can bet there's a reason.

Yes, yes, there's a reason.

Orion was being...tactful (a rare instance with him, to be sure) in what he said to Sirius about why he took custody of Harry. To scrap off all the tact, sweetness and convoluted words and say it plainly, it would have come out something like...'because I honestly don't see you as being capable of taking care of this child'.

Sirius could likely take Orion to court and hash it out about his accounts. But the money isn't his main focus right now. Harry is. And not for the reasons you may think.

Mallory Belvedere:

I don't honestly set out to torture people, Dear. Believe me. But if you are enjoying it, all the better.

Chapter five is coming. Should be out shortly after Chapter Four. Actually, I believe there is a Chapter Four and a Chapter Four B since I split the original Chapter Four into two parts.

Macaw:

I appreciate the kind thoughts about the parrot, Dear, but let me add a little post-script here.

Charlie, our parrot, was as temperamental a parrot as ever there was. The vet swore the bird was female. Loved my Dad, hated everyone else passionately. Even despite the fact that for years I was the bird's sole caretaker and source of conversation for six months out of every year, the minute my Dad walked back through the door, I ceased to exist.

Birds are funny that way.

We still miss her.

Sweets:

P.A.R., I know...I know it's been a long while since I've read and reviewed. :) In the time I've been away I have officially gotten my A.A.(Of course that was just this past week) With dad's health a second cancer surgery etc...life has been very busy these last few months. Please forgive the un-read/un-reviewed chapters.  
Okay Orion needs a chill pill seriously. He is taking Harry and let's not forget here that Harry is going to need Sirius and Arabella. He needs them to help heal etc. I hope dear Orion knows what he is getting himself into. Are we going to be seeing any more of Katlin? If so is she and Orion going to be an item again ever? Also what ramifications will Orion's action of taking Harry have on Harry? Sirius? Arabella?  
Okay, enough questions for now...I probably will find some answers reading the stories I haven't gotten to yet. YIKES! I only have till Aug. then UCF beckons...What have I gotten myself into?  
BTW...I know what you mean about all the rain...I don't know if you've been on 50 in Occoee but they have pumps working overtime. Thank goodness work isn't in that direction.

Congratulations on the AA, Dear.

I understand how a parent's health concerns can take over your life, believe me. How is your Dad doing, Dear?

Does Orion know what he's getting himself into? Probably. He is, after all, currently the father of five. Three of them teenagers.

Will you be seeing any more of Katlin? Oh, Dear, yes. A great deal more. She figures very heavily in this story.

Will Katlin and Orion be 'an item'? I would hope so. They are, after all, married.

What ramifications will Orion's taking Harry from his godparents have on Harry, Sirius, and Arabella? How can I answer that, Dear? That's a large part of the story. But I will say this, while I can not comment on anything that is going to be taking place between Arabella and Sirius from Chapter four on out, I can say that poor Harry is going to have his hands full trying to adjust to life under his uncle's rule. Sirius and Orion have very different ideas when it comes to rearing one's children.

What you have gotten yourself into, Dear, is college. Enjoy it while it lasts, because real life is nothing like it.

Pumps? To keep a major highway open? That is so sad. But I like rain, so I am not complaining. I also live in a watershed, so what do I care how much it rains?

****

Diamond

Tcalo:

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! People are still reading Diamond! I am so pleased. I love this story.

Thank you, Dear, for taking the time to review and let me know someone read this even so long after its posting.

All reviews are as of 07/03/2005.

Lessons Hurricanes have taught us:

People will still get in a line even if they have no idea what the line is for.


End file.
